Starting chemo February 2020
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Fab4mom, my boss had told me about that camp but mybkids are not interested lol
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Ladies, I'm so surprised and happy. I'm in the car on my way to pick up my princess from her dad's house. I have not seen her since July 1st.
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Congrats SE!
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SE, Yay! Here's hoping you get your surgery scheduled soon.
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I have another appt. to get tested tomorrow since they need two consecutive negative tests. I'm assuming my surgery will be somewhere in Sept. because I have to be at least two weeks off the aspirin I'm taking with the Tamoxifen.
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congrats SE, that’s great. And even better that you get to see your daughter
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has anyone’s lymph node incision started leaking? I had a big hard swollen area around my lymph node incision and I just woke up to everything soaked because the incision is leaking. I can’t get it to stop. The swollen spot is going down so I guess it was a lot of fluid built up but I can’t get it to stop leaking. I’ll call my doctor in the morning but curious if anyone’s had this happen.
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Do you still have a drain? my lymph node incision leaked like crazy around my drain. I was told they can get a lot of fluid and take awhile to heal. I had my drain in for three weeks and it was always leaking. Thankfully when she removed the drain, leaking stopped and no seroma. The armpit incision was way more difficult to heal for me than the DMX. Your doctor might want to check it
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I sent them a message so maybe I hear back today. I never had any drains. I had a lumpectomy and only had one lymph node removed so they didn’t put any drains in. I’m assuming that’s what happened that the fluid built up and finally drained out but I don’t know how really. It doesn’t feel like the incision is open anuwhere
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Fab4mom- I’ll have to look into that camp maybe next next year when my oldest is 7.
SE- yay! Excited for you now that can now can see your daughter and get that surgery scheduled! Hoping that second test comes back negative again.
Hray- I didn’t have a lymph node incision area since I had a BMX, but I did have a leftover seroma in my lymph node area. I didn’t even know I had it until it showed up on my CT/PET scan. Hopefully your doctor can help you out this morning!
This week so far is uneventful for me, but I’m feeling a lot of joint aches that I’m assuming are from my OS/AI. Hard not to get paranoid of metastasis when new aches and pains creep up
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what is a seroma
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a seroma is just a pocket of fluid build up. They typically happen after a surgery I guess. Sometimes they can be bothersome, but I didn’t even know I had one.
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oh okay I for sure had one then but it got a lot smaller after all that fluid drained
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ajminn - it’s worth checking the camp out at least. I was a little nervous about sending my boys away at 8, but they had so much fun online this year that they are really excited for next year. Free is also a nice bonus.
Radiation called yesterday to schedule the appointment for planning and she said first available is Aug 27. I had to get assertive and let her know that was way to long. She was super snippy with me but said she’d check with the doctor. Lo and behold I get a call 20 minutes later that they can fit me Thursday at 1:15. I knew I couldn’t wait, but the scheduler didn’t have any sort of note in my file and she was rude. Thankfully I like the RO, but I’m not getting a good feel for the radiation department in general. Hopefully the next 6 weeks goes by quickly once I get started.
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yah! SE. Took more than a month to get that out of your system. Geez. (Also, your son looks a lot like you).
Less than a week to my surgery now. Trying to get house ready, work wrapped up, supplies delivered, etc. etc. (yes, I had many weeks to do this...). Had 3rd echo on Tuesday. All good. COVID test coming up on Saturday, 46th birthday on Sunday, isotope injection into my nipple (uhg) on Monday afternoon, surgery Tuesday. Got my gatorade, got my extra strength tylenol, got my chest pillow, etc. etc.
Aches and pains.... yes, they make me worry. Every day when I wake up my finger joints on both hands are stiff. Pretty sure this started before chemo, but I can't say for sure as every little body complaint became "just a nuisance" after cancer diagnosis. Seems like I should remember when it started but I really can't. Seems to mostly go away mostly after getting out of bed and moving around, but I feel like my finger joints are always a little tighter than normal. So now I'm afraid that 1) I will soon be diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, or 2) am getting premature osteoarthritis (45 would be premature, right? please tell me 45 is not that old). What I'm HOPING - is that it will just go away once we get to cooler fall weather and my body goes more back to normal.
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micdpowers, thanks. Everyone says my son is my twin lol
God luck on everything going with you, seems like a lot.
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I get so tired of the roller coaster we are on. I was feeling physically great (well great for having gone through chemo) this week.Preparing myself mentally for radiation. Yesterday I saw my MO for what I thought was simple appointment to discuss the hormone therapy and he tells me that he was surprised and concerned that they found 5 positive nodes instead of 3. So now I have to go tomorrow for bone scan and CT Scan before they can proceed with radiation. Has anyone else had to do those scans before radiation? He seemed concerned about what the 5 meant for my continuing treatment and prognosis.
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hray, I had drains, but even after they removed them, there was some drainage from my incision. If fluid builds up it can find a way out between your sutures. I just put a gauze and tape over it but the first time it happend it freaked me out and I called my DR like a bably! lol
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dysonsphere, I'm so sorry. That sucks.
I finally got my two consecutive test results. I just emailed the surgery coordinator to get things moving.
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dysonsphere - i haven't had any scans since starting Chemo in February. I'm guessing it's precautionary.
SE - Congratulations oo m getting your second negative. Glad it's cleared your system and that you had a mild case. Good luck getting your surgery scheduled
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Dysonsphere - how many nodes did you have removed? I had 4 positive plus some cells in 2 others. They removed the first two levels of my axillary nodes , so 24 total. I also had signs of disease in other nodes that responded to chemo and was gone. They didn’t order any more scans for me when they found the positive nodes during surgery. I think they knew it was radiation no matter what. I am hoping after all of my active treatment I get another scan of my whole body to check one more time, but I don’t know if the do that. I’m sorry that you are back on the rollercoaster and have to go through stressful scans again Hopefully they are just being cautious
SE - yay!!
micdpowers - I have more stiffness than I used to in my joints since chemo. It’s gotten better but not back to my pre cancer self. Everything about this process makes me feel like I’ve aged 20 years. When I had a bone scan in January, all of my joints lit up for arthritis. Knees, hips, shoulders, sacrum, etc. I asked my primary if that was a normal bone scan for 43 and she didn’t really answer, but did say I might want to lay off high impact exercise going forward. I had too much else to focus on, but I’m quite worried about arthritis as I move on to hormone blockers. I have been an avid exerciser, so I know now I’ll need to be more gentle on my body.
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It's good to hear how everyone is doing, making their way through the next phases of this crazy ride we are on. I am one week out from recovering from my surgery to remove my right expander (after I had emergency surgery to remove the left after infection). I'm feeling pretty good and started walking more, but I'm very cautious because my PS told me not to overdo.
I have a planning meeting with my RO on Monday, even though I still have stitches that won't come out until Tuesday and I haven't started PT yet and I'm concerned about getting my arms totally over my head for radiation. Those that have been through radiation already, can you shed some light? My RO told me even though I still had stitches and limited arm mobility, he still wants to have the planning meeting. I had my BMX on June 25th, so I know I'm behind getting my six weeks of radiation started due to complications.
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mheibel - I had my planning meeting for RO about 3 weeks after my axillary node surgery 4 weeks after DMX, and one day after I got my last drain out. I was still very tight and had bad range of motion, but it was fine for the planning meeting. Yesterday I had my simulation meeting, and you do need to have pretty good range of motion to keep your hands over your had the whole time holding the handles. I'm sure they'll help you through it, they told me sometimes it just takes a little longer. I'm so sorry to hear about your infected expander and complications. That sounds painful and scary. Hopefully you are healing up nicely now.
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Fab4mom - thanks so much for the information. It's extremely helpful. I am starting PT on Friday, so I'm hoping it will help with my range of motion. I'm still having such a hard time sleeping..it's hard to get comfortable, but I'm hopeful it gets better as I continue to heal. It may sound crazy but this is my first week back in my bed. I've been in a recliner since surgery, but I really wanted to be back in my bed. I hope your radiation goes well with minimal side effects. Keep us posted.
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I had 27 nodes removed, 3 they knew about but I ended up having 5 positive. I've had bone scan and CT scan so I'm just waiting for my results on Wednesday. Fingers crossed !
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sorry you had to go though those extra tests. Hopefully it's just a precaution and there's nothing else to worry about
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Dysonsphere- crossing everything for you! Hoping you get good results tomorrow
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Thinking of you Dysonsphere as you await your results. Hoping for all good news.
No news here, doing my OT today and Thursday, going for Herceptin/Perjetta infusion tomorrow and my practice radiation Friday.
I’m having one of those more worried days. More worried about recurrence etc. I’m not sure why, I guess just one of those days.
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Fab4mom- I also get another H/P infusion tomorrow. And I’m also having a tougher time with reoccurrence fears. It’s hard for me to tell if any ache/pain is just a side effect of my new hormone meds, an exercise ache, or reoccurrence. It’s frustrating to think I’ll be this paranoid for the rest of my life. Ugh. I’m also starting to get stressed about the upcoming school year because it is becoming increasingly apparent that school districts here do not have a solid plan or any plan for what school might actually look like..
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Back home after BMX surgery yesterday. All went well, and they only had to take out one node and it was negative! I find it hard to believe since there was so much cancer in my breast itself. But I'll take it! (though - part of me still questions... "what if it went to another node?" "what if there was no cancer only because the chemo killed it", etc. etc.)
I feel like I have the tightest most uncomfortable underwire bra on - digging into bottom of my boobs and between them.
I was feeling pretty sad/crappy leading up to the surgery (was upset I had to do this to my body) but I'm feeling better about it mentally now that its done.
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